UNI men sweep Drake with 66-52 win on ESPNU

CEDAR FALLS (UNI) — The University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team completed only its third season series sweep of the state of Iowa’s Division I basketball schools with a 66-52 win over Drake on Sunday in the McLeod Center.

UNI (14-7 overall, 4-5 Missouri Valley Conference) had 10 players score in the game, led by freshman Seth Tuttle’s team-high 13 points. Junior Jake Koch was the only Panther to reach double-figure scoring with 10 points. Koch added four rebounds, three blocks and three assists in the win.

Drake (12-8 overall, 5-4 MVC) got a game-high 21 points from guard Kurt Alexander in a losing cause. UNI limited Rayvonte Rice to nine points, eight points below his season average of 17.3 points per game. UNI also held Drake’s Ben Simons to seven points, eight points below his season average of 15.7 points per game.

UNI closed the first half on a 15-4 run, turning a 19-17 deficit into a 34-23 lead at the intermission. Tuttle and Koch started the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers to push the run to 21-4 and give UNI a 40-23 lead with 18:50 left in the game.

The Panthers eventually pushed the lead to 25 points at 53-28 with 12:59 left in the game after sophomore guard Matt Morrison completed a conventional three-point play.

Drake would close the lead to 14 points at 58-44 following a pair of three-pointers from Alexander and Simons with 6:57 left in the contest. Drake got to within 12 points at 61-49 following another triple from Alexander with 5:01 left, but the Bulldogs would get no closer and UNI closed out the 14-point win.